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Gamesnight … Poseidon by Helmut Ohley & Leonhard "Lonny" Orgler
Dicken and Kendall arrive to find yet more work has been completed at Peter’s new residence. A neat gravel trap for friends late braking; very thoughtful.
Paul and Phil (stalwart members of the Esher Gaming Group) are already at table and Poseidon is laid out. Paul is quickly explaining the rules, but not before the Ragnars have poured themselves a drink and Dicken has presented an offering of homemade chocolate brownies – priorities gentlemen.
Plenty of components for this game about the Greek expansions of 1800 BC. The board is double-sided and (as seems habitual) is immediately turned over to the English side. It’s a Z-Man game and production values are slick. The rules are quite complex and it takes a good while before the game gets underway. Paul confesses that he hasn’t had time for a trial run and Phil gets his excuse in early (‘I’ve never played an 18XX game’).
Peter is elected first player and therefore goes last in selecting his special card. These give some early shape to the game, but as yet no one can gauge their significance – it’s presumed that their Taler (Z-Man’s generic money) value is a clue. Then Peter founds a city-state (Sparta) and starts sailing.
The general consensus is that Poseidon is based on 18XX systems, but it also seems to have features of a number of other games in the way funds are raised and banked in the coffers of the state. Players tread a line between siphoning of funds for themselves and enriching the state, thus increasing its trading value and its share value. Paul is later to declare that the buying and selling off of ships between two states owned by the same player is a good example of asset stripping. Frankly, this doesn’t feel very much like ancient Greece, but there are lots of game decisions that will keep players from dwelling too much on whether the theme is being delivered with ‘historical accuracy’.
Kendall takes Thessalonika and edges out into the northern Aegean. Dicken is further down the same coast (a grey coloured state), Phil picks up Athens and heads for Crete and Paul is on the West coast (playing black). Paul’s choice seems a good one (less competition) so Dicken, Kendall and Phil each buy one of his merchants (shares).
The trading bases use the same counters as merchants, so here is a key decision – how many bases do you found as against how much money do you need by issuing shares?
Placing bases is done by moving the ‘discovery’ boat, trading then follows using the fleet. The fleet is made up of a number of boats for which the state needs money to buy and to keep up-grading.
It sounds like accountancy, but fortunately the company is good and ‘fun’ is being had. ‘The Greeks are very honest; they always tell you how much they urn!’ Bazinga!
About an hour into the game, the first 4-point boat is taken and the game lurches to a halt. Old 2-point boats are jettisoned (presumably asset stripped to an inferior culture) and some extra funds can be raised. A good time as well to top up the beers, although this applies only to Kendall and Peter as Dicken and Phil are driving and Paul is TT.
By now the trade routes are quite lengthy, so high value boats are useful to reach as many trading bases as possible. After a slow start, Peter’s Spartans are particularly popular and those shares are gobbled up. Paul and Phil both found a new state and these shares are also attractive – being as they are cheap as chips.
Kendall meanwhile is buying heavily into his own Thessalonika shares, convinced that having reached the lucrative Bosphorous / Dardanelles provinces (the future Constantinople etc.) these will deliver rich dividends as well as increasing steadily in value. Only Dicken seems interested in this bonanza, presumably because Kendall’s fleet is still under strength.
And that’s where time ran out…. 1600 BC ish. Still plenty to happen, although most of the features (special cards etc.) seem to have been explored. No clear leader / winner. This is a game that will have to be re-visited before anything definitive can be gauged.
No one came close to ‘taking over’ a City State from another player but perhaps that might have happened later in the game – probably another 45 minute to an hour needed to finish it. Poseidon is definitely a business game and it works no doubt but unlike many 18xx games the theme was peripheral really and perhaps this is because too many 18xx games have been played and players cut straight to the mechanics rather than stopping to admire the scenery (to mix my metaphors). I’d judge this game will get a replay as we all know the rules now and have a feel for how different aspects of the game interact with each other. The speed will improve and I suspect the asset stripping aspect will be more savagely utilised. Never stand in the way of a Spartan who is bent on stripping an asset……
Peter provides the customary and sumptuous supper. Fantasy Ashes are due to start again with Peter and Paul keen to sign up. Plenty of e-mailing due to happen before battle resumes.
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